Following Jesus Christ

       As the time approached for Him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And He sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for Him; but the people their did not welcome Him, because He was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do You want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.

       As they were walking along the road, a man said to Him, "I will follow You wherever You go."
       Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but The Son of Man has no place to lay His head."
       He said to another man, "Follow Me."
       But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
       Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim The Kingdom of GOD."
       Still another said, "I will follow You, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
       Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in The Kingdom of GOD."

       After this The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place where He was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask The Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field. Go! I Am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
       "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
       "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The Kingdom of GOD is near you.' But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The Kingdom of GOD is near.' I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
       "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.
       "He who listens to you listens to Me; he who rejects you rejects Me; but he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me."
       The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
       He replied, "I saw satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
       At that time Jesus, full of joy through The Holy Spirit, said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was Your good pleasure.
       All things have been committed to Me by My Father. No one knows who The Son is except The Father, and no one knows who The Father is except The Son and those to whom The Son chooses to reveal Him."
       Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."


The Gospel of Luke: chapter 9, verses 51 - 62 & chapter 10, verses 1 - 24

Who's Your Daddy?

       To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, "If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know The Truth, and The Truth will set you free."
       They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
       Jesus replied, "I tell you The Truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if The Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill Me, because you have no room for My word. I Am telling you what I have seen in The Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."
       "Abraham is our father," they answered.
       "If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill Me, a Man who has told you The Truth that I heard from GOD. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does."
       "We are not illegitimate children," they protested, "The only Father we have is GOD Himself."

       Jesus said to them, "If GOD were your Father, you would love Me, for I came from GOD and now am here. I have not come on My own; but He sent Me. Why is My language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to The Truth, for their is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell The truth, you do not believe Me! Can any of you prove Me guilty of sin? If I Am telling The Truth, why don't you believe Me? He who belongs to GOD hears what GOD says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to GOD."

       The Jews answered Him, "Aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?"
       "I Am not possessed by a demon," said Jesus, "but I honor My Father and you dishonor Me. I Am not seeking glory for Myself; but there is One who seeks it, and He is The Judge. I tell you The Truth, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death."
       At this the Jews exclaimed, "Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?
       Jesus replied, "If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing, My Father, whom you claim as your GOD, is The One who glorifies Me. Though you do not know Him, I know Him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad."
       "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to Him, "and you have seen Abraham?"
       "I tell you The Truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I Am!" At this, they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid Himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.


The Gospel of John: chapter 8, verses 31 - 58

The Three Visitors

       The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three Men standing nearby. When he saw Them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet Them and bowed low to the ground.
       He said, "If I have found favor in Your eyes, my Lord, do not pass Your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then You may all wash Your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get You something to eat, so You can be refreshed and then go on Your way--now that You have come to Your servant."
       "Very well," They answered, "do as you say."
       So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. "Quick," he said, "get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread."
       Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before Them. While They ate, he stood near Them under a tree.
       "Where is your wife Sarah?" They asked him.
       "There, in the tent," he said.
       Then The Lord said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son."
       Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"
       Then The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for The Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."
       Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh."
    But He said, "Yes, you did laugh."


The Book of Genesis: chapter 18, verses 1 - 15

Abraham Pleads for Sodom

       When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. Then The Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of The Lord by doing what is right and just, so that The Lord will bring about for Abraham what He has promised him."
       Then The Lord said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will know."
       The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before The Lord. Then Abraham approached Him and said: "Will You sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing--to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from You! Will not The Judge of all the earth do right?"
       The Lord said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."
       Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to The Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will You destroy the whole city because of five people?"
       "If I find forty-five there," He said, "I will not destroy it."
       Once again he spoke to Him, "What if only forty are found there?"
       He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it."
       Then he said, "May The Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?"
       He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."
       Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to The Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?"
       He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it."
       Then he said, "May The Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"
       He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."
       When The Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, He left, and Abraham returned home.


The Book of Genesis: chapter 18, verses 16 - 33

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

       The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning."
       "No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square."
       But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
       Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."
       "Get out of our way," they replied. And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We'll treat you worst than them." They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
       But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
       The two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here--sons in law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to The Lord against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it."
       So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, "Hurry and get out of this place, because The Lord is about to destroy the city!" But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
       With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished."
       When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for The Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!"
       But Lot said to them, "No, my lords, please! Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can't flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I'll die. Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it--it is very small, isn't it? Then my life will be spared."
       He said to him, "Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it." (That is why the town was called Zoar.)
       By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then The Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah--from The Lord out of the heavens. Thus He overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities--and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
       Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before The Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
       So when GOD destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.


The Book of Genesis: chapter 19, verses 1 - 29

The Coming of The Kingdom of GOD

       Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when The Kingdom of GOD would come, Jesus replied, "The Kingdom of GOD does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because The Kingdom of GOD is within you."
       Then He said to His disciples, "The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of The Son of Man, but you will not see it. Men will tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. For The Son of Man in His day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
       "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of The Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
       "It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
       "It will be just like this on the day The Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot's wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left."
          "Where, Lord?" they asked.
       He replied, "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather."


The Gospel of Luke: chapter 17, verses 20 - 37

The Day and Hour Unknown

       No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor The Son, but only The Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of The Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of The Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
       Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because The Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.
       Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom The Master has put in charge of the servants in His household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose Master finds him doing so when He returns. I tell you The Truth, He will put him in charge of all His possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The Master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect Him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.


The Gospel of Matthew: chapter 24, verses 36 - 51

Noah, the Ark and the Flood

          This is the account of Noah.

       Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with GOD. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
       Now the earth was corrupt in GOD's sight and was full of violence. GOD saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So GOD said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark--you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."
       Noah did everything just as GOD commanded him.
       The Lord then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."
       And Noah did all that The Lord commanded him.
       Noah was six hundred years old when the flood waters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as GOD had commanded Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
       In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month--on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
       On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as GOD had commanded Noah. Then The Lord shut him in.
       For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. Every living thing that moved on the earth perished--birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
       The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.


The Book of Genesis: chapter 6, verses 9 - 22 & chapter 7

Conclusion of the Flood

       But GOD remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and He sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.
       After forty days Noah opened the window he had made in the ark and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. But the dove could find no place to set its feet because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf. Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.
       By the first day of the first month of Noah's six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.
       Then GOD said to Noah, "Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you--the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground--so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it."
       So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds--everything that moves on the earth--came out of the ark, one kind after another.
       Then Noah built an altar to The Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in His heart; "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

              "As long as the earth endures,
              seedtime and harvest,
              cold and heat,
              summer and winter,
              day and night
              will never cease."


The Book of Genesis: chapter 8

GOD's Covenant With the Earth

       Then GOD blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
       "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.

              "Whoever sheds the blood of man,
                 by man shall his blood be shed;
              for in the image of GOD
                 has GOD made man.

As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."
       Then GOD said to Noah and to his sons with him: "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you--the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you--every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."
       And GOD said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between GOD and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."
       So GOD said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

The Book of Genesis: chapter 9, verses 1 - 17